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<title>He's Getting Better by TheGrinningKitten</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23485672">He's Getting Better</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGrinningKitten/pseuds/TheGrinningKitten'>TheGrinningKitten</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ambiguous/Open Ending, Gen, Written in Segments, You Have Been Warned</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:40:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>719</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23485672</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGrinningKitten/pseuds/TheGrinningKitten</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Reaper claims that Error is getting better.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>past Geno/Reaper (AfterDeath)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>201</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>He's Getting Better</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"He's getting better."</p><p>That's what started it all.</p><p>That claim — coming from Reaper of all people — had Ink intrigued.</p><p>Which, of course, resulted in the artist investigating the issue... only to realize that Reaper was right. Of course, with how far gone Error was normally, "better" was far from "fine" or "tolerable" or "sane". But seeing a calmer, more intelligent side to Error was... interesting. Intriguing.</p><p>Then something happened. A tick? A small motion?</p><p>Whatever it was, it prompted Reaper to call out, "Geno?..." and Error got that lost and... almost scared look in his eyes.</p><p>Right in front of Ink.</p><p>Things snowballed from there.</p><p> </p><p>First order of business was reintroducing the glitch to life in environments that weren't white and empty. Which meant getting him out of the AntiVoid. <em>Which meant giving him an AU to live in.</em> An intrinsically problematic endeavour to say the least.</p><p>In the end Ink settled on sacrificing a small, plotless, aesthetic-driven AU to the cause, and a little help from Blueberror ensured the glitch couldn't leave.</p><p>It took a few attempts, but once the destroyer tired from raging over his new prison, Ink was able to grant him a small house, some ways away from the central monster settlement of the universe. (The glitch refused to step inside and made himself a hammock on the patio, but... baby steps, right?)</p><p>Then came the socializing.</p><p>Ink's exuberant nature was met... extremely poorly. Blueberror's attempts at conversing with the glitch bore arguably even worse results, and the poor kid called it quits when a conversation resulted in an hour-long reboot. Dream, ever-helpful, made a single attempt at befriending the disgruntled glitch and had to admit defeat when it almost cost him his life.</p><p>That's how Reaper — the only person Error seemed to tolerate — got to be his friend, caretaker and pseudo-therapist. Talking to him, appeasing him with simple gifts, trying to initiate physical contact.</p><p>It was hard.</p><p>It was hard, because his — non-sanctioned — free time was now solely occupied by dealing with Error, which was as far from restful as it gets.</p><p>It was hard, because he kept seeing glimpses of his former lover in the other, and it hurt. It hurt even more when, after a moment of clarity — a moment of recognition — Error reverted to his usual state, and the connection was gone.</p><p>And it was hard, because Error was unpredictable. But not like a wild animal is unpredictable because you have no idea what's going through its head. No, Error had no idea what was going through his own head either. He'd rip a quantum physics book — one of Reaper's gifts — to shreds only to demand to know why it was ruined an hour later, or wrap himself into a scarf only to scream and claw at it later, as if it was cursed.</p><p>Yet there was progress. The good times grew in number and the bad times diminished.</p><p>There came the days where he'd excitedly ramble about things, like he used to before, and then grumble and blush — and only that — once he realized what he was doing. There came the days when he'd touch their fingers when asked, and Reaper even caught him trying to hold his hand a couple of times.</p><p> </p><p>Then came a day, where Reaper truly saw Geno in him. Just as determined, but also vulnerable and so, <em>so</em> tired.</p><p>They were sitting on the floor of the patio in silence, enjoying the evening.</p><p>"I'm dead," Error said then, looking through him, frowned, as if that didn't sound right, and added: "I'm leaving."</p><p>No matter what Reaper did, he couldn't get anything else out of him until it was time for him to leave for work.</p><p>He'd come to curse himself for doing that, because when he came back, Error wasn't there anymore. Not in the entire AU.</p><p>The news of the destroyer escaping the world he was, supposedly, trapped in had the whole Multiverse on edge and searching for him — with zero results: no Error, no dust, not even any of his belongings.</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>When even Ink got frustrated by the fruitless search and approached the one person who knew the glitch better than anyone else, asking what was going on — what all of this meant — Reaper could only shrug helplessly and say,</p><p>"He left."</p>
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